China Theaters Offered Rebates To Regain Local Film Market Share
Worried about competition from U.S. and other foreign titles, China’s movie industry regulators have created financial incentives for any theater chain that takes in at least 50% of its annual box-office revenue from Chinese films. Tian Jin, deputy director of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, complained recently that the market share of Chinese films in China had dropped to 41.4%. The incentive will be in the form of a rebate of the fees — 5% of all ticket sales — that theater owners pay to the National Film Development Funds Management Committee. If half of a theater owner’s revenue comes from domestic films, the entire fee is refunded. If 45% of sales come from Chinese films, 80% of the fee is returned. If the percentage falls below 45% but exceeds the domestic market share in the previous year, the rebate is 50% of the fee.

Bona Film Group Secures $20M Credit Line
China’s Bona Film Group has arranged a $20 million revolving credit line agreement with East West Bank. The secured credit line will be used to fund upcoming productions and for acquiring distribution rights to international films in China. At the American Film Market, Bona agreed to buy China rights to the action comedy sequel Red 2 and the Harald Zwart-directed adventure fantasy Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. For both movies it plans day and date releases with North America. The company is also seeking a government licence for Allen Hughes’ crime thriller Broken City, which it acquired in 2011 and aims to release next year.

Screen Australia Funds Four Documentaries
Screen Australia is investing $A780,000 ($813,000) in four documentaries as part of its Signature Documentary Program. Writer/director Judy Rymer’s Charlotte’s Story will follow one young Australian woman’s fight for justice following her horrific gang rape in Kenya. In Bob We Trust, from writer/director Lynn-Maree Milburn, tells the story of 77-year-old Father Bob Maguire, who continues to minister to Melbourne’s poor despite being forcibly retired and evicted by the Catholic Church. Writer/director Sophia Turkiewicz’s Remember Me will chronicle the journey of a mother and daughter from a Siberian gulag to Australia. In Tyke: Animal Outlaw, producer/directors Susan Lambert and Stefan Moore will tell the story of a circus elephant’s rampage. – Don Groves

Singapore Creates Legal TV Directory To Fight Piracy
Singapore has such a high rate of pay-TV piracy that an industry trade group and media-tech law firm have created an online directory of content available from legitimate sources. The site, www.finddigitaltv.com, was launched yesterday. According to a report by research firm Media Partners Asia, Singapore has the fifth-highest per capita infringement rates globally. Trade group Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia said Singapore, despite its small population, has the “highest per-capita incidence of peer-to-peer infringement of English-language pay-TV shows in the Asia-Pacific region”. Singapore is also ranked 24th out of at least 48 international markets in terms of global infringement by volume. This is only one spot behind South Korea, which had a population of 49.8 million last year, compared to Singapore’s 5.2 million that year.

UK Series ‘River Cottage’ Gets Spin-off in Oz
Granada Media Australia and Keo Films will produce River Cottage Australia, the first international version of the popular British lifestyle series River Cottage created by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Commissioned by paybox Foxtel and its The LifeStyle Channel, the series will test Aussies’ knowledge of food and resilience in setting up a sustainable farm. Fearnley-Whittingstall will act as a mentor when production starts in early 2013. The producers are seeking an Aussie to front the show.